History of Football

 History of Football

Football is a game that involves two teams of 11 players who try to manoeuvre the ball into the other team’s goal without using their hands or arms. The team that scores more goals wins. Football is the world’s most widespread ball game in numbers of participants and spectators.

England is the birthplace of football. The first ever football match was played on Barnes common at Mortlake, London on 19th December 1863 between Barnes Football Club and Richmond Football Club. There is evidence in China that military forces around the 2nd and 3rd century BC (Han Dynasty) played a game, originally named "Tsu Chu", that involved kicking a leather ball stuffed with fur into a small hole. Like football, no hands were permitted during the play of the game. Various forms of the game were played in various countries. China's Tsu Chu players and Japan's Kemari players were the first to have an "International" game of their versions of football in 50 BC. There were many alternative versions of football with varying rules which existed much earlier and are a part of the history of football. Earlier forms of football were much rougher and more violent. This game became a professional sport when it was taken up as a winter game at public schools. The rules were further standardized and a new version was adopted by all the schools, colleges and universities, known as the Cambridge Rules. In 1862 The first football club was the Oneida Football Club, Boston USA. On October 26 of 1863, the Football Association was formed when eleven London schools and clubs came together at the Freemason's Tavern to create a single set of rules to administer any football match that was to be played among them. Earlier there was no clear distinction between football and rugby except for the no. of players and the length of the match. On December 8 1863, Association Football and Rugby Football finally split into two different organizations. 

First ever football match, 1863

There were two versions of football, one English other one Scottish, and later Scottish version of football became more prevalent. The first official international football match was played, between the national teams of Scotland and England, played in Glasgow Scotland. The game was played on 30 November 1872 and finished with a 0-0 draw. The four British associations agreed on a uniform code and formed the International Football Association Board. The first international match played by teams outside of Great Britain was between USA and Canada, played in Newark and ended with Canada winning 1-0. In 1900 Football was played at the Olympic Games for the first time. Establishment of FIFA by delegates from France, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland at a meeting in Paris on the 21st of May. In 1930, The Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) held football's first World Cup tournament in Montevideo, Uruguay, with 13 teams. Women's football was not added until 1996.